WRITTEN QUESTION P-0807/02 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Convention financing.
Date: 2002-03-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: administrative expenditure (EU), amending budget, budget policy, inclusion in the budget, interinstitutional agreement, supplementary budget, transparency in decision-making

5.12.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 301 E/57

(2002/C 301 E/061)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0807/02

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(15 March 2002)

Subject: Convention financing

In the supplementary and amending budget passed by the European Parliament at its February II plenary
session, EUR 150 000 was put aside for ‘Entertainment’. For what, exactly, will this ‘entertainment’ fund be
used?

In the interests of
allowances and other expenses payable to the President and individual members of the Presidium?

transparency and openness, could the Commission please detail

the payments,

Answer given by Mrs Schreyer on behalf of the Commission

(22 May 2002)

The Commission submitted the Preliminary Draft SAB 1/2002 after the conclusion of an inter-institutional
agreement with the Parliament and the Council, organising the contribution of the three institutions to the
financing of the Convention. The Commission’s proposal, adopted without amendment by the Council and
Parliament, merely aimed at introducing in the budget the changes necessary to allow the transfer of
appropriations to the Convention as agreed in the inter-institutional agreement. The Commission’s
proposal does not include any forecast on the use of the budget allocated to the Convention.

The Decision of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council,
which created the Convention, provides that the draft Convention’s budget is to be established by the
Convention’s Secretary General.

By letter of 13 March 2002, the Secretary General of the European Convention transmitted the draft
budget of the Convention to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. The Commission
gave its approval on 3rd April 2002, and the Parliament voted its approval on 10th April 2002. The
Budget of the Convention for 2002 was adopted on 18 April 2002 by the Representatives of the Member
State Governments meeting within the Council.

The Honourable Member could raise directly both questions to the Convention’s Secretariat, or to the
representatives of the Parliament in the Convention’s Praesidium,
in the framework of the approval
procedure of the draft budget.

(2002/C 301 E/062)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0820/02

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(18 March 2002)

Subject: Shipwrecked illegal immigrants: request to set up a crisis unit

Yet another vessel carrying non-Community nationals has been shipwrecked in the Sicilan Channel,
causing fifty deaths. This kind of accident is occurring more and more frequently.

The measures so far taken by individual European states of the Mediterranean area have proved inadequate
in tackling such a serious problem.

Would the Commission agree to set up a crisis unit with representatives of the Member States and
Mediterranean countries with a view to the adoption of a common strategy to put an end to this long
series of tragic accidents which has led to the deaths of hundreds of people, including many women and
children?